Lambeth Together Care Partnership is sharpening its focus on mental health, aiming to improve the wellbeing of Lambeth residents through targeted initiatives and enhanced community support.
The Living Well Network Alliance (LWNA) is prioritising early support for Black people, with the understanding that improving impact on this group will benefit all those experiencing inequalities, according to the LWNA Roadmap.
At a meeting on Thursday, the board endorsed the LWNA's roadmap for the next 12 months, which includes a set of outcomes and priorities designed to improve mental health and wellbeing across the borough. The Alliance commissioned an independent rapid review to ensure it remains effective and able to further improve Lambeth's mental health during its three-year contract extension to March 2028. The review found that the Alliance has an enviable reputation inside and outside Lambeth
and having met much of its original cultural change purpose…is in need of a cultural reset to understand and meet the challenges of the current context
.
The LWNA has agreed to concentrate on three key outcomes:
- Reducing crisis presentations for individuals already known to mental health services.
- Increasing early support for black people, with the understanding that improving impact on this group will benefit all experiencing inequalities.
- Demonstrating improvements in people's recovery outcomes.
The roadmap outlines several priority tasks to achieve these outcomes, including:
- Establishing baselines, measures, and targets for crisis presentation reduction.
- Conducting a stocktake of the current service offerings.
- Developing projects to deliver the desired outcomes.
- Improving accessibility and outreach to underserved communities.
- Implementing a community development programme.
- Building on existing services to provide effective and accessible prevention within communities, including Integrated Neighbourhood Teams.
Integrated Neighbourhood Teams (INTs) are a key component of neighbourhood working, aiming to bring care closer to home. INTs will integrate staff from health, social care, and the voluntary sector into place-based teams to deliver coordinated care. One of the four INT models will focus on mental health, with the LWNA and South London and Maudsley (SLaM) leading efforts to align existing mental health support with the INT model, according to the Lambeth INT Delivery Plan.
The Alliance also identified several enablers to support these improvements, including clear communications, genuine co-production, a supportive and collaborative culture, a capable and motivated workforce, cost-effective resource utilisation, and effective governance.
According to the LWNA Roadmap, senior representatives from all Alliance Partner organisations had two highly productive awaydays to agree a high-level Roadmap for the next 12 months and beyond to refresh the Alliance.